I've worked in retail for about the past 10 years or so. And every year it seems like Black Friday gets more and more ridiculous.

When I first started working in retail, we opened at around 6:00AM. Meaning, get to your store for 5:00AM to be sure you were set up for the day. Fine! I can see the early birds wanting to shop after a lovely Thansgiving. Most people have the day off from their jobs, and hey-- gift giving holidays are right around the corner... so why not go holiday shopping?

Then a few years ago it was 5:00AM... then 4:00AM.

Now you're pushing it.

Two years ago it was 3:00AM, with the option to open at midnight if you so choose. (Note: we didn't and it KILLED business for the day). Last year.. it was MIDNIGHT MADNESS!

I was even fine with that! Sure, I'll grab a few energy drinks and sell clothing all night.

But this year... we just got the notice and we open at 8:00PM on Thanksgiving Day and we are to stay open straight through until 10:00PM on Black Friday. That's 26 straight shopping hours that we will be open.

Do you think it is a good or even cost-effective idea to open at 8:00PM on Thanksgiving Day?
Retail people, how do you feel (or how would you feel, if these aren't your hours) about having to start the most dreaded of days ON Thanksgiving?
Black Friday shoppers, are you happy about retailers opening up earlier? Will you shop?

62 Replies to How early is too early? (Black Friday)

I think it is a great idea, if it isn't mandatory to attend and you guys get paid overtime plus benefits like 50% your next purchase. I believe walmart is having those benefits and overtime.

I know a lot of college students who couldn't go home for thanksgiving, so they were pretty lonely. If they are able to work and make extra money during that time, I can see how it benefits them.

I will probably go shopping to be honest. I never could do actual Black Friday because we always had a performance on Black Friday. I will go this year at night to see what it is all about, and probably get burned out and leave after a couple of hours hahaha.

I think it is interesting to see if there would be less injuries on the morning of Black Friday. If you guys are open 26 hours, maybe people won't act like animals and hurt other people. Maybe put out good deals every couple of hours, so people don't come in rushing in at once.

I can deal with Black Friday. What I can't deal with is Christmas Music in October. Are you freaking kidding me? sugarplum fairy music even before Halloween?!

I am of the STRONG opinion that if Thanksgiving is a national holiday intended to afford ALL residents the opportunity to gather together and give thanks for their families and bounty, it is hypocritical to exclude so many workers (retail) from sharing in their national day of reflection.

When I was very young I worked as a telephone operator. Holidays were a source of irritation for all the women I worked with. They had to be at work (there was no 911 then... if there was an emergency you dialed "O")as a matter of public necessity. We were often reminded that doctors, nurses, police and firefighters were also holiday workers. It was a noble sacrifice.

My family and extended family NEVER shop on Thanksgiving. Sometimes my sister who is a nurse, has to work. Sometimes my nephew who is a doctor has to work. My son who worked at a casino had to work every holiday. But retail??? Please.... why can't these workers enjoy their families like everyone else?

I'm done. And I know I still didn't answer the question....

How early is too early? Before 6 AM. That's my vote. We can wait for the sun to rise before we buy more junk, can't we?

It is absolutely mandatory. If my store does not open, it's a $500 fine for each hour we are not open. I do not get overtime. Nor any special priviledges. In fact, I will be working at LEAST 7PM on Thanksgiving until at least 8:00AM on Black Friday... with no food break. I'll be darn lucky if I can walk away to pee.

If I were a police officer, nurse, doctor, 911 operator, etc. I would have NO problem giving up my Thanksgiving to provide my services.

I do, fully, have a problem with running a store that sells keychains and ornaments and being required to leave my family to appease the shopping mall.

The mall opens at 6pm here, open at 4pm for the stores to set-up. If you are my friend on Facebook, you know I'm passionately, adamantly against it. Why even bother with Thanksgiving? Just leave it open, why make people even think they can celebrate a holiday with their families? And while we're at it, let's just be open on Christmas too. Screw family, there's freaking shopping to be done.

I honestly don't know what I would do if I had to leave my family to be at the mall at 4PM. And I thought 8PM was bad. Yuck.

I think the part of all of this that really gets to me is that Thanksgiving is a TRUE American holiday. It has no religious affiliation. It's not limited to "only people in New England" celebrate it.

And what is the point of Thanksgiving? To GIVE THANKS for the things that you have in your life. Your family, friends, yes... even material possessions. So, you are supposed to spend that day being thankful for what you ALREADY have-- and yet, everyone is going to go shopping.

I worked Black Friday 3 years ago. The mall opened around 5a (as I recall). I worked 6a-3p at Anthro with an hour off for lunch. Then I worked 330p-1130p at Banana with an hour off for a break. Georgia is a right to work state (read-non union). As such, they're really strict with labor laws. If you work less than 5 hours, you get a 30 minute break. If you work 8 hours or more, you get an hour off. You have to officially clock out and clock back in from your breaks. Everyone was scheduled anywhere from 5-8 hour shifts. No overtime issues.

Unless you're a medical professional, there's no reason to work Thanksgiving day. Let the malls open at obscene hours of the morning and move on. I never had much use for Thanksgiving until I was an adult. I hated it as a kid. Now I get 2 days off that gives me a 4 day work week. I'm cool with it now.

I think store should open at the same time they usually do, the day after Thanksgiving. That's how it works with Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and I think it's fine. I don't get why people have to make their purchases so early. If everyone opened at 9, nobody would lose business. The whole point of having a national holiday is that everything is closed and you have nothing else to do other than celebrating with your family.

We don't have Black Friday here (of course) but this mandatory opening coupled with obscenely long shifts with no break is absolutely disgusting. You guys really get screwed as employees over there - retail workers don't need to be in a union over here because common sense tells us that people need breaks and reasonable shifts, so that's what they get. Absolute joke. The irony is that retail and service is seen as a stop-gap job here, not a career unless you're management, yet we've got it better than you guys who it seems dont see retail the same way.

I agree completely. There were stores at the mall meeting who wanted to open earlier for their "special" customers. I about walked out. So. much. greed.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against shopping, buying and selling goods. I also understand that police, fire, and ems services with doctors and nurses on call don't get to be off. But they chose their job and they getbpaid accordingly. The retail clerk, the barista, the girl at McDonald's make mininum wage and might (I don't) get time and a half. They work because they're FORCED to by greedy corporations.

Yes, you're right. When the stores are closed, they still pay rent and they lose profits. And I know that many people choose to work because they are poor and don't have a choice so they suck it up and deal. And I think it is morally and ethically wrong. It makes me hate consumerism and commercialism so much. Yeah, quit. Because finding jobs is so easy. Some of us do this because we have to. And being bullied by greedy corporations makes me want to quit the planet.

That's crazy that it is mandatory. I mean, I know retail workers kind of know that they have to work Holidays, but did they at least let you know that you had to work Holidays when you were hired? I know they hire seasonally, and I wish that they let people have the Holidays off, and just hire people temporary for the Holiday season who don't mind working the Holidays.

My BF is working Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Christmas Eve, but he gets paid Holiday pay. I mean it sucks being home alone on Holidays for me, but, at the same time, that is part of his job duty.
My parents are going through a horrible nasty divorse, my bfs parents are preparing for the Nutcracker, so they are working. For me, the mall being open is a godsend, because it allows me to not be alone for the Holidays.

As I said, if people want to work, then let them. I am VERY VERY VERY against it being Mandatory. Are you kidding me?! Don't they usually hire seasonal help with people who don't mind working Holidays.

If I knew anyone from DDN in my area who was working, I would bring you guys coffee and muffins. I'm sorry that some of you guys are stuck working retail on Thanksgiving by force.

Black Friday should stay on Friday. Only once did I go the night before, it was Wal-Mart, and a printer was on sale and my parents needed a printer and I am excellent at navigating crowds. The sale started at midnight, though, but since Wal-Mart only closes on Christmas, we got there earlier.

It is just ridiculous to have people working retail on Thanksgiving. When my brother worked at Wal-Mart, he worked Thanksgiving, and always had to miss out on family stuff. He tried to request it off one year, but that week was like blacked out and no one could request off. :/

Black Friday, in general, is a terrible concept. Sure, people spend, spend, spend and stores make bank, but seriously? I have never shopped all day on Black Friday and do not intend to ever. I have gone out for a few door buster specials (IF it was something I had planned to buy anyway) but the way they hide the merchandise and the lines and shivering in the cold weather and people pushing and shoving, all for the sake of saving a few bucks just really put me off. I don't intend to shop on Black Friday at all this year. If I want some special deal I'll buy it online while I spend Thanksgiving with my family.

I'm so sorry retail workers. I refuse to shop on "black Thursday" and most of my family does too.

I worked at a movie theater where working Thanksgiving was mandatory since so many families would go to see movies. I can understand that to an extent, and felt lucky because our customers were in a great mood and were spending time together. However, that's not the motivation behind Black Friday and I doubt they're half as cordial as the people I dealt with were.

There was only once that I actually ventured into the retail world on Black Friday, in the afternoon. My husband dragged me to Best Buy, and we were only in the store a few minutes before the chaos got too much for us and we left. Other than that, we usually just stay at home or go for a long drive on back roads. I personally feel the whole business is completely ridiculous. You have a holiday that's supposed to be family-oriented and all about thankfulness backed by a day of selfish greed and screw anyone in the way. I just don't get it.

I was particularly disgusted last year when businesses were coining the phrase 'Grey Thursday' for opening Thanksgiving night. How much longer till the entire week is a national spend-your-yearly-wages-three-times-over extravaganza, with the original holiday completely forgotten? Seriously, with businesses going straight from Halloween to Christmas already (and sometimes with Halloween as an afterthought next to the Christmas ornaments that were put out in September), I'm surprised it's even acknowledged anymore.

As much as I love to shop, I refuse to do it on Thanksgiving in support of people who are working for the simple reason that corporations are GREEDY. There is nothing thankful about that.

I was asked why I thought going out to eat or getting gas on Thanksgiving was ok. Food and gas are necessities, going shopping can wait a day. We need to draw a line somewhere. Until the consumer sets some limits, Thanksgiving is going to continue to morph into "Grey Thursday".

It's called Black Friday, not Black Thursday or Black 36-Hours-Constant-Shopping-Frenzy (although the malls and multinationals would LOVE that, wouldn't they?). Stores should open at regular operating hours, and do away with the "only one item at stupid prices so people get trampled" doorbuster concept. Ugly, frenetic scenes of shoppers crammed against doors and fixtures and fighting over cheap goods does not promote a season of goodwill. Have great specials, by all means, but be sensible and mindful of staff and customer safety, too.

(And working so long without a break? Muffin, what are the labour laws in your state? That surely can't be legal!)

We don't have Black Friday here - the closes equivalent would be the Boxing Day sales. When I worked retail, we'd be working late on Christmas Eve, tearing down the decorations and getting ready for Boxing Day. NOBODY worked Christmas (except for essential services, gas stations and the odd restaurant).

Public holidays should be days of no work for all sectors (except essential services). No shopping is so urgent it should impinge on the rights of retail workers to spend time with their families.

I think the whole concept is appalling. There is just no valid reason to take retail workers away from their families on the day when we are to be together to give thanks. When I first heard of this plan to open on Thanksgiving, I decided I'd boycott any store in my area that particpated. But then I read that Massachusetts blue laws prohibit any of these stores from being open on Thanksgiving. I hope that's true. MuffinHead, it really stinks that you have to work on Thanksgiving. I can't imagine any mall store has anything that someone truly must possess on Thanksgiving Day.

Jobs are hard to come by where I live. Considering the avalanche of applications the new local Super Wal-Mart received, I assume everyone is very happy to be working on Black Friday or any other day for that matter. We also have a large population of Jehovahs Witnesses who live here and they would be happy to shop on Thanksgiving itself and there are probably quite a few JW employees as well. One of my former students always volunteers to work on all holidays because she is a JW. Now if it is not a choice and you have to work on Thanksgiving like it or not, then I suppose you have to consider whether that is worth it to you to work there knowing the policy. I'm all for Black Friday, bring on the Midnight Madness, lol. Not that I've ever gone that early, but I have gone at six in the morning before and it was fun.

Jobs are hard to come by where I live. Considering the avalanche of applications the new local Super Wal-Mart received, I assume everyone is very happy to be working on Black Friday or any other day for that matter. We also have a large population of Jehovahs Witnesses who live here and they would be happy to shop on Thanksgiving itself and there are probably quite a few JW employees as well. One of my former students always volunteers to work on all holidays because she is a JW. Now if it is not a choice and you have to work on Thanksgiving like it or not, then I suppose you have to consider whether that is worth it to you to work there knowing the policy. I'm all for Black Friday, bring on the Midnight Madness, lol. Not that I've ever gone that early, but I have gone at six in the morning before and it was fun.

Jobs are hard to find here too. I'm not a JW, but I'd be thankful I had a job. Will I go shopping on Thanksgiving? Hell no. But if I or my husband had to work, it wouldn't be the end of the world for us.

My store isn't open on Thanksgiving, but we open at 0700 on Black Friday. We cater to a very specific type of clientele so unless you're buying skis or hiking gear, I won't see you.

The problem with retail is that most people there don't have a choice. It's the only job you can get, it's the only job flexible enough for school, etc. I don't participate in Black Friday anyhow, but I think it's fine to expect people to be okay with working it. Actual Thanksgiving though? That's awful. If a store is supposed to open at 6 pm, that means workers need to be there by 4 or 5. So much for Thanksgiving dinner. Focusing on consumerism ON a holiday that is federally recognized and supposed to be about family and thankfulness is awful. Keep Black Friday on Friday.

The problem with retail is that most people there don't have a choice.

Yes you do. Either work or get another job. I work retail knowing full well I might have to miss some things. I guess I don't see it as a big deal because both my husband and I were public servants and worked holidays, so it doesn't phase us.